tq investor jana iris @janaboruta reminds me of a warm cup of coffee.

what do planning early developer conferences at hashicorp & the principles on burning man have in common? find out in this week's episode seed to harvest with jana!

links below @janaboruta 1/ youtube:

spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3PlIda…

apple podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tq-…

last year at behind genius ventures, we raised our first $5m venture fund from 120+ world-leading tech investors. i was 22.

here's what i would have told myself a year ago about fundraising for the first time...[a thread] 1/ you'll receive conflicting advice about how to fundraise, invest a venture fund, and build a firm. be open minded, but pay attention to your gut feelings and your deeper mission.

venture is full of paradoxical dynamics - so there is no right answer.

in 2019, i had no network in silicon valley.

i spent the next 2 years building a community remotely through cold outreach.

here's my 5-step cold outreach framework I used to build a community of world-leading investors, founders, journalists, and operators...[a thread] step 1: positivity as purpose

most people think "what value can i bring to the table?"

instead, i want you to think about adding positivity.

over the past 17 years, I've read 1000+ books. as my dad likes to say, very fitting for my name!

99.9% of them weren't worth it.

here's 10 books that were...[a thread] Book #1: The Name of the Wind

most people misunderstand fantasy, I know I thought it was just for "nerds".

this book shows you the importance of names and storytelling, and has one of the best depictions of a love for music. the quotes are FANTASTIC!

goodreads.com/book/show/1860…

alrighty folks....who wants to learn about minimum viable *legal* venture fund formation? i've had a lot of aspiring managers reach out about what actually goes into fund formation & i wanted to dig in...[a thread] 1/ first off, hi! it's been a while. i'm sorry for my absence from ✨thread land✨ for a bit, it'll all make sense soon. with that - let's dive in!

proud to say I'm officially a graduate of @joelpalath's amazing emerging manager program @SuttonCapital! i got to meet & share learnings with great folks like @MacConwell @AntonioDSpears 🎉

the top ten things i learned...[a thread] 1. nontraditional funds require nontraditional LPs. most institutional LPs invest mostly in venture funds over $100M. joel recommended HNWI, Super Angels, Family Offices, apply to FoF classes for smaller "nanofunds"

my goal for the next ten years is to help 1,000 people make their first angel checks, 500 people organize their first syndicate, and seed 100 emerging managers. ESPECIALLY underrepresented folks.

I’m laying the ground work for that today 🤞 investing in private companies is such an incredible lever for generational wealth - and yet, most information about the how, what, where, and why one can do this has not been communicated to the general public in a digestible way.

anyone have some good examples of LP decks? ramping up some work this weekend 🎉 this one is great:

https://twitter.com/vc/status/1301912263213809664?s=20

alright, been getting a lot of DMs with syndicate questions (and even one that I inspired an investor to launch her first syndicate deal!) so i wanted to dig into syndicate deals & their relevance to founders, investors, and aspiring leads as well as FAQs...[a thread] first off - hi, i’m Paige, a dev success engineer at @WorkOS, author of Seed to Harvest: A Simple Explanation of VC and an early stage syndicate lead. I’m passionate about democratizing access to info and capital for founders, technologists, creators, and aspiring investors.

you may have seen a couple investors tweeting about participating in my first syndicate deal, but i'd love to highlight all of my incredible investors...[a thread] David Hoang, Director of Design at @webflow. David is one of the most supportive people I've met on twitter & I'm proud to have him as a GP in my book as well!

https://twitter.com/davidhoang/status/1334334111813492737?s=20

in celebration of closing my first [and oversubscribed] syndicate deal today, here's ten things i learned (accidentally) raising my first syndicate deal...[a thread] a couple notes 1) i won't be announcing the company before their public launch BUT i wanted to share some learnings, the hilarious story of how this deal was sourced, and celebrate the amazing investors on my cap table 🎉

over this thanksgiving week, i've had time to reflect over what has certainly been a tumultuous year. i reread a piece I wrote in february that I've kept pretty private for a while, so I wanted to share a few key learnings from it & how the decision I made changed me...[a thread] people often ask me if i want to work in vc.

the truth is, i had an offer to work as a partner-track associate at my dream vc firm - but it was on the east coast. let me tell you why I almost took the role, what changed my mind, and how that decision has shaped who I am today:

hey aspiring vcs 👋 we're going to explore venture capital scout programs: what they are, why they exist, and how to pick and join one...[a thread] 1/ for context - historically, people who would have deal flow to invest in early stage companies would be the ones with capital. as the internet democratizes access to founders all over the world, there’s a growing gap between capital and access. (graphic from @Mat_Sherman)

i've been watching more videos about artists after talking about the importance of art as a lens for viewing history through and a way to start a dialogue about the future with my mom(a professional oil artist) and i'd love to share them with you all...[an ongoing thread] 1/ dean mitchell paints portraits of wise and strong people - people who will never be movie stars - and focuses on the intersection of poverty, race, and art. this video captures a piece of his story & his creative process:

a lot of people have recently asked me "why aren't you a venture capitalist yet," so I wanted to explain a bit of my journey...[a thread] 1/ I write about venture capital because it fascinates me in its incredible ability to serve founders, generate wealth and fuel companies - and also because it is a subject I had a hard time finding jargon-free information on.

we often discuss the technical skills that you need to get a job – but ignore the soft skills that often play a much more impactful role than we care to admit.

this influenced me to write about quality conversations: how to have intro calls that don't suck...[a thread] 1/ conversing is a skill that permeates every other aspect of our lives, and an intro convo is your first introduction to someone else.

a wise man told me that conversations have two parties. It’s worth repeating that 5 to 10 times over – conversations have two parties.

one of the most important lessons I’ve learned this year:

to help the most people, spend a lot of time on a really strong resource you can repeatedly send out to people...[a thread] new grads reach out to me often about advice, and it takes a long time to type individual paragraphs for them. My main deciding factor in making a resource is “is this something ive been asked about 5 times or more?.” paigefinndoherty.com/2020/03/30/on-…

okay I’m working on a notion doc that lays out the foundation of getting into VC/startups.

if anyone would like to contribute/share their story with me - my DMs are open!! Please share widely ❤️

Working in public is fun so here is my rough draft so far: notion.so/Tech-VC-The-Fo… for reference: a thread on term sheets I wrote ✨

https://twitter.com/paigefinnn/status/1255208492312358912

got beef? an exploration of feud marketing in hip-hop and tech twitter...[a thread 🧵] 1/ first, what is beef?

beefs, as defined by @EliSweet in his 2005 master's thesis Bullet on the Charts: Beef, the Media Industry and Rap Music in America, are conflicts expressed through texts, and the surrounding discourse about these conflicts between consumers and the media

how to grow your business by writing: a highlight thread by me based on david & sahil's recently released youtube video!!

cc: @david_perell & @shl 1/ i've been an admirer of both david & sahil for a while, i appreciate that they both empower individuals to develop and monetize content online.

david runs write of passage, a 5wk course basically 'crossfit for writing', and sahil is the founder of gumroad.

here we go!

term sheets! are! confusing! if you’re a new founder (or just starting out in VC), here are some common terms and what they really mean... [a thread] 1/ liquidation preferences:

how shareholders will be cashed out in the event of liquidation(IPO/M&A)